Long-Term Investment

A lifetime of experience went into this efficient kitchen design

When Gregory Johnson describes his kitchen as "built for sound," he's not referring to its acoustics. While "jam sessions" happen regularly in the antique Victorian home located in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, they are strictly of the culinary variety. "We like to invite people over to cook as a social activity and we needed a place that could comfortably accommodate our friends," says Johnson, recalling a recent gathering celebrating a bumper crop of Meyer lemons. "Everyone pitched in and we had a great time," he says. That kitchen work party yielded a tasty lemon curd along with several batches of sorbet and pungent limoncello aperitif. "We do things like that all the time." As entertaining needs escalated, their outdated galley kitchen strained to keep up. Fortunately, Gregory and his wife, Michelle Morainvillers, knew what had to be done. Now retired, both had worked in professional kitchens—he cooked up patés and confits for a well-known Parisian caterer while she flourished as a pastry chef—so they undertook the remodeling project, with Gregory acting as general contractor.

Most Popular

While the footprint of the 130-square-foot kitchen remained the same, structural changes expanded the cramped dining room and provided enough room for an 80-square-foot outdoor terrace. Dominating the cooking area is a hefty European commercial range with a variety of burners (including a French top) and dual ovens. To the right of the range, a built-in stainless steel tower corrals a collection of mixing bowls. Open shelves replace wall-hung cabinets, providing ready access to their contents. "Isn't it easier to just grab plates and glasses and put them on the table?" Gregory says. A collection of well-used copper cookware, purchased during the couple's frequent trips to France, hangs within easy reach of the range. "We lugged them home in our suitcase a piece at a time."

The old galley kitchen strained to function during gatherings. The update is basically a wider version of a galley—with a nice dining table, more powerful amenities and thus a lot more flexibility.

Gregory insisted on durable, easy-to-maintain surfaces similar to those found in the Italian cafés and bistros he has visited. The materials he selected—butcher-block, marble and stainless steel—contribute to the kitchen's professional ambience, but their aesthetic benefits don't stop at installation. "The limestone and marble pick up a wonderful patina over time," Gregory says.

The floor planks are salvaged California bay laurel; the cabinets crafted of redwood slabs culled from 800-year-old trees in nearby Mendocino, accented with claro walnut trim. Upon viewing the virgin wood recovered from the forest floor, the owners resisted the urge to chop it up for cabinetry. Instead, they devised a slim pullout pantry that strategically incorporated the 8-foot boards as door panels. "We call it the Redwood Forest," Gregory says.

However, salvaged wood presents special challenges, as the couple's cabinetmaker, Ken Seidman, of Seidman Woodworks in San Francisco discovered. "It doesn't come in standard sizes," Seidman says, "so it's more difficult to cut, mill and plane." In addition, redwood is a soft wood that dents easily, making it an unorthodox choice for cabinet construction. To stabilize the large doors, Seidman glued the 1/4-inch panels to plywood backing for extra support. "Sure, it's harder to utilize, but the end result is beautiful," he says, noting that the owners fully embraced the imperfections of the wood. "I told them it would ding, but they didn't mind." Moreover, the couple couldn't be happier with the results. "This is timeless design that will last for another 25 years," Gregory says. "We are never going to rip this kitchen out."